6 Conclusions
122. The OECD's 2010 Innovation Strategy
stated: "it is crucial [that governments] continue to invest
in future long-term sources of growth such as education, infrastructure
and research [while] cutting back public investment in support
of innovation may provide short-term fiscal relief, it will hit
long-term growth."[199]
Over the next four years funding for astronomy in the UK will
see a significant reduction, while the budget for particle physics
will, at best, stand still. At a time when many of the UK's international
peers plan to invest more in science and innovation as part of
long-term strategies to ensure economic growth, reduced budgets
will impact on the UK's growth prospects, reputation and ability
to stay at the forefront of developments in the fields of astronomy
and particle physics. Moreover, these reductions will impair the
UK's ability to attract and inspire the next generation of astronomers
and particle physicists. This means how the STFC spends its budget,
and its long-term strategies for beyond the next four years, will
be all the more important.
123. We have concerns that the STFC is increasingly
focusing its astronomy and particle physics programmes into fewer
areas. By failing to encourage the healthy diversity that comes
from funding a varied portfolio of programmes the UK risks losing
its ability to stay at the forefront of future developments. A
case in point is the UK's planned withdrawal from all Northern
Hemisphere optical and ground based astronomical facilities, which
may hand over UK leadership and competitive advantage in this
field to international peers.
124. Finally, if the STFC is to do its job effectively,
it must in the future act as a clear advocate for its science
disciplines. As our inquiry has shown, there are areas where there
is room for improvement. In particular, the STFC must continue
to build bridges with the academics, researchers and scientists
it funds. However, the wider research community also has an important
role to play, and we believe that in the interest of the UK's
future prominence in the fields of astronomy and particle physics
it is time to move on from issues of past strategy and finance
in order to concentrate on the future.
199 OECD, Key findings of the OECD Innovation Strategy
2010, May 2010 Back
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